Tag: bridal shower

Bridal Shower Recap

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Two weekends ago, I was showered with so much love and happiness at my bridal shower. Even though I knew when and where it was, I had nothing to do with planning it so when I showed up at our family friend’s house, I was totally blown away with all of the work and thoughtful details that went into making my day so special. Jeanne has always said that she wanted to host my bridal shower- long before I even had a serious boyfriend 😉 – so it was so special to finally have that day arrive!

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Out of all of the crap weather we’ve had over the past month or so, somehow we nabbed the most beautiful day for my shower. The sun was shining, the temps were mild and it was an all around wonderful day. From the little pictures everywhere to the thoughtful “thank you for coming” gifts to the mantle decorations to the food and beautiful cake and to everything else my sister, mom, RM’s mother and “the Jeans” (Jeanne and Jean are my mom’s two best friends so we call them “the jeans”) did, not a detail was sparred and they truly made me feel so special.

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On top of that, I was surrounded by most of my closest friends, lots of my dad’s family and lots of RM’s family, which was really great. Getting a chance to introduce people before the wedding is nice because once the wedding is here, they’ll all know each other a little better.

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What I loved about the shower was that it was at a home and not a restaurant because it allowed people to mingle and move around and chat without being confined to just one table. We had received a lot of gifts previously that people had sent to our house, but we still received some awesome gifts that people brought to the shower, too! So many great things- I can’t wait to do a big “out with the old, in with the new” sweep through our kitchen 🙂 Oh, and this shirt from my mom that says “I can’t keep calm, I’m the bride”, couldn’t be more fitting 😉

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Once the shower was over, we headed to my parents house for the “after party”. Four of my college friends stayed over and then some other friends came over and we had a blast drinking wine and eating homemade pizza that my dad made for us. It was the perfect ending to the perfect day.

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I can’t believe how much time and energy my mom and sister put into this day- it was seriously amazing and I can’t thank them enough! The Jeans were also a HUGE help and RM’s mother was so sweet for making a huge batch of her meatballs and bringing the most beautiful cake. I’m so lucky to have so many wonderful people in my life!

Thank you so much to everyone who came- you sure know how to make a girl feel special 🙂

Weekending: Gardening, Driving Range, Sunsets and Sheila’s Bridal Shower

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You guys. This past weekend was SO FUN! I was, again, surrounded by family and friends and the boy and enjoyed every minute of it.

Friday night, the boy and I headed to Waltham for his home-town friend’s surprise birthday party. It was my first time meeting all of them and they were so friendly and welcoming! We stayed out late- until after 1am, which is unheard of for me. I was the DD, but I still felt off on Saturday morning, which must have been because of the lack of sleep. Totally worth it, though.

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I skipped the gym on Saturday since I knew I’d ben working hard with my dad. He was gracious enough to take the time to come down and build me a garden on my back patio- how lucky am I?! Ever since he retired, he started gardening, which has been really fun to be a part of. My garden is about a fraction of the size of his, but I’m still so excited about it. Between lugging about 25 bags of heavy manure, compost mix, mulch and pete moss, as well as wood, I was pretty beat (and secretly loved it- I love physical labor!). It only took us about 2 hours from start to finish which is pretty impressive. We leveled and measured and screwed and shoveled and raked- in other words, we earned our beers after we were done 😉

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My dad is going to come back down in a few weeks to do the planting for me. I wouldn’t be able to do this without him, so I’m so thankful that he’s helping me!

After my parents left (my mom went and hung out with my sister in Southie), the boy and I went to Quincy to drive some balls at the Granite Links Golf Course and Driving Range. We planned it perfectly because we finished our bucket of balls just in time to get a cocktail and watch the sun set. Have you guys ever been there? It’s the most beautiful place- it’s up high and everywhere you look it’s gorgeous. They also have an outdoor bar and had live music. We each got a margarita to watch the sunset and agreed it felt like we were on vacation!

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By the time we realized it, it was 8pm so we scratched all plans of making dinner and went to the tavern at the course and had dinner there at the bar. Based on the wait and how busy it was, clearly we were not the only ones with that idea. Thankfully I’ve got eyes like a hawk when it comes to nabbing seats at the bar so we were seated in no time. I got the fish tacos which were amazing!
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Sunday was a day all about my friend Sheila. She’s getting married in September and her mom had planned a surprise bridal shower for her at the Venezia. It may have been terribly hard to find, but boy was it worth it! The location was right on the water with beautiful views of the city. Being around my girlfriends, drinking cocktails and celebrating is probably one of my favorite things to do.

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Everything about this shower was perfect- the location, the decorations, the food… you could clearly tell there was a lot of time and energy spent on making it the most perfect celebration for Sheila. No detail was missed! The food was also fantastic. I went with the Scallops and Lobster and Asparagus Risotto and it did not disappoint. My favorite part, though? The ice cream sundae bar!!! Best idea ever.

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All in all, it was such a wonderful afternoon. At this point in our lives, we are all so busy so it’s nice when we have an excuse and an event that brings us together. Jessi and Kelly were missing- we missed you girls!

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Can’t wait until the bachelorette party… shenanigans will ensue 😉

And, there you have it. Monday morning clearly came way too fast 😦

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Did you spend any time outside? Do you like to go to the driving range? What’s your “vacation” drink of choice?

More Weekend Catch-Up

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Hi! How’s everyone doing? Did you survive Monday? I always feel a little better once Monday is over!

Since I didn’t do much weekend recapping except for Sara’s shower, I wanted to fill you in now! Everyone left our place by 6pm on Saturday and at that point, my sister and I were ready to get out of the house. I had a $20 OpenTable gift certificate and she had a $10 UBER credit, so we decided to take advantage of both and go grab dinner somewhere. Most restaurants were pretty busy, but one of our go-to favorite restaurants just happened to have some availability! I stumbled upon Anthem Restaurant in Faneuil Hall a few winters ago when I was planning Rachel’s bachelorette party and we have been in love with it ever since! I’ve taken my parents there, work friends there, college friends there… Pretty much any time we don’t know where to go, but want good atmosphere and good food, we go there.

Anyway! Since we were not too hungry, we ordered some wine and chatted before placing our meal order.

042Once our stomachs began to rumble a little, we placed an order of their Boston Bibb salad and Margarita Pizza. Nothing too heavy, but enough to satisfy us!

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045Yum! The salad looks boring, but the dressing they use is what makes it so good!

My friend and former co-worker, JP, met us out, which is always a good time. He and my sister can be bad news sometimes, though, because they egg each other on in drinking competitions and whatnot. Youngin’s, I tell ya!

046JP was also able to catch this on camera. I have to say that she did a much better job carrying me this time. I blame it on my heels!

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I woke up Sunday feeling much better than I thought I would, which is always a nice surprise. After blogging and eating breakfast, I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and go for a walk. Danielle joined me so it was nice to have someone to talk to! We covered just about 2 miles and then I worked to get my garden ready for planting. Let me tell you, raking and tilling and pulling weeds is a great upper body workout!

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050Even though I could have stayed out in the sun and warm weather all day, I had to go in and shower and get ready for my friend Christy’s bridal shower. It was at the Daily Catch in the Seaport and it was absolutely lovely. I had never been to that location, but it was so much nicer than I had imagined. Plus, the view of the harbor on a gorgeous sunny day didn’t hurt, either. It was great to get to catch up with a bunch of my college girlfriends and be a part of Christy’s special day. It was a surprise bridal shower and it seemed like Christy was 100% surprised!

I didn’t get many pictures, but I did grab some of the adorable center pieces that my friend, Amy, made, as well as a delicious mimosa and the menu.

058It was a 3-course meal and everything that I tried was really good! I got the caprese salad to start, fish n chips for my meal (everyone deserves a splurge day or meal!) and obviously didn’t turn down a piece of cake (I am a sucker for all things dessert, especially when it involves frosting.).

After the bridal shower ended, I picked up Danielle and we hit up the grocery store. I had all intentions of making a nice Sunday dinner, but when I looked in the fridge and saw how many leftovers we had from the shower on Saturday, I decided to postpone my meal for tonight (only night I don’t teach, so I actually have time to make a nice dinner after work!). This was a big move for me… I ALWAYS make a “Sunday Dinner,” so when I don’t, something feels so off!

And, I think that about sums it up! Weekends being surrounded by best friends and family are the best, in my book, and nice weather is just icing on the cake (pun intended!).

Questions for you: What was the best part of your weekend? Do you like to garden? Do you try to make a nice meal on Sunday nights or do you prefer to cook during the week?

Weekly Workouts

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Is it really Monday already?! Sometimes I feel like I am more ready for Monday to come around than others, but today is definitely not one of those times. Between hosting Sara’s shower all day on Saturday, going out a little on Saturday night and going to my friend Christy’s surprise bridal shower yesterday, my weekend was a whirlwind and I feel like I didn’t get any down time (not that I am good with that anyway, but still). Don’t get me wrong, I had an absolute blast at all the events that I went to and I am definitely not complaining, but I could certainly use another day in my weekend, that’s all!

Let’s get to the workouts, shall we?

Last Week’s Workouts:

  • Monday- Hotel workout in NY and taught Dynamax
  • Tuesday- I took this as a total rest day, aren’t you proud?! I didn’t even do a lot of walking since I drove to work and I skipped out on the Triceps Tuesday April Arms Challenge workout. Since I was gone all weekend, I felt like I had too much other stuff to catch up on (laundry, picking up, organizing, cooking, blogging), so my workout took a back seat, and that’s totally fine!
  • Wednesday– Since I skipped my AAC workout on Tuesday and couldn’t figure out a good way to incorporate Wednesday’s workout into my class, I decided to do both of them before I taught. It.Was.Awesome. I ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill and then got busy with tri’s and bi’s and abs.

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  • Thursday- Ran through Cambridge like a crazy bag lady, taught TBC (Supersets) and Kickboxing

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  • Friday- Got up and did the burpee tabata from Thursday’s AAC workout and the Friday workout from AAC before work. It felt so good to be done my workout for the day by 8am!
  • Saturday- Got up and ran 1.5 miles and then did 2 circuits of the Sunday AAC workout (wanted to rest on Sunday and not Saturday) and did some extra core work.
  • Sunday- Walked 2 miles with Danielle and then gardened for about a half hour.

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This Week’s Workouts

  • Monday- My own cardio & teaching Dynamax. It’s the first day of the new session and I am so excited!!
  • Tuesday- This might be a rest day, but if I can wake up and do something before work, I’ll do that.
  • Wednesday- Cardio and/or biceps blast before teaching UXF
  • Thursday- TBC (which, I recently learned is now called Shred or something. Not sure how I feel about that!) & Cardio Kickboxing
  • Friday- I might do a Deck of Cards workout before work, run during my lunch break, or go play in the UXF area at the Wellington BSC after work is over.
  • Saturday- Teaching Kickboxing at the YMCA. It’s been a few weeks and I’ve missed it! Can’t wait to remind them about what they’ve missed 😉 [insert evil laugh here]
  • Sunday- Rest! and gardening. I really want to get everything planted this weekend.

Your turn! What was your favorite workout last week? Any new moves or exercises to share?